The widow of the police officer shot dead by dissident Republicans pleaded last night for his death to be the last political murder in Northern Ireland. Kate Carroll, whose husband PC Stephen Carroll was killed on Monday, argued that his death would not be in vain if it had a positive effect on the peace process.

She said: "I hope that this is the last time that anybody has to suffer what I've suffered. They've robbed my son of his father, my grandkids of their grandfather, a mum of her son, me of my life. Part of my life has gone, that's what they've robbed me of."

Speaking in detail for the first time, she added: "He thought this war was over, but obviously not and I just can't believe this has all started up again. If Steve's death has made a positive effect on all of this, that's all I care about. It's a hard lesson for everyone to learn but if it brings something positive out of it then fine, but I don't want Stephen to have died in vain."

Hundreds of people are expected to attend PC Carroll's funeral at St Therese's Church in Banbridge this afternoon. Before the requiem mass, children from local schools gather in the town for a three-minute silence.

A military service was held yesterday for the two soldiers shot dead at their base 28 hours before the police officer's murder, as religious leaders called on people in Northern Ireland to wear purple this weekend to show their revulsion over the killings and security services from both sides of the border met to discuss the murders.

Detectives were last night given five more days to question a 37-year-old man and a 17-year-old arrested late on Tuesday in a housing estate close to Lismore Manor in Craigavon, where PC Carroll was killed. The older man is a former Sinn Féin councillor, it emerged this morning.

Security forces are still hunting for a Real IRA bomb after intelligence reports that a device was smuggled across the border. They are investigating whether the device was destined for an Irish Sea ferry. This line of inquiry is linked to a security operation around the Duncrue industrial estate dockland area of Belfast on Monday.

All cars, vans and lorries entering the estate, which includes two docking bays for ferries to Scotland and England, were stopped by armed police and searched throughout Monday afternoon and evening, security sources said.

Carroll said that as her husband left for work on the morning of his death he discussed the possibility that he might be targeted. "On his way out I said, 'Steve, take care, just keep your head down.' And he said to me, 'I'm working toward my future here and I've been through all the worst times, wouldn't it be ironic if something happened now?' I said, 'Steve don't talk like that, I don't want to hear it,' so he said: 'Love you, see you tonight.'

"He was so adorable," she said. "He was a good man, he was lovable, he was kind, he was considerate, he was romantic, just everything a good man should be. He was always smiling, a big cheesy grin."

She said that she went to make a cup of tea when she saw a police car pulling up outside her house after the shooting, assuming it was her husband returning home. "I wondered why he wasn't coming in and the next thing when I opened the door there was a police lady and a policeman stood at the door and I just couldn't believe it because Steve had always told me if there's a policewoman and policeman that means something has happened to me and something had happened to him. I said: 'Just please tell me he's injured, don't tell me he's dead.'"

Earlier yesterday, scores of colleagues of the soldiers shot dead outside Massereene base in Antrim attended a drumhead service, a ceremony traditionally carried out in the field of combat using drums instead of an altar.

They then lined the exit route from the base as the bodies of Sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, from Birmingham, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, from London, were formally handed over to the care of their families. Their funerals are due to take place next week.

At the gates of the base, local people had left dozens of bouquets of flowers. One message read: "Two beautiful soldiers killed serving their country all because of cowards." A second asked: "Where will we search for the cowards who did this?"

The four main religious denominations in Northern Ireland are calling on congregations to pray together this weekend for an end to violence for good and to wear a purple ribbon or item of purple clothing in protest at the murders.